University of Virginia Library

10. CHAPTER X.
THE WANDERER AND THE GREEK BRIDE.

The raftsman and his young friend had
been talking together in the cabin full three
hours, so interesting had been the subject of
Red Beard's communication, and still he
had not finished the story which he had
begun.

`Perhaps,' said he, `as he observed by the
moon's height, that it was near midnight;
`perhaps I had best defer the further recital
of my history, master Ringold, until to-morrow.
I must have wearied you.'

`By no means. I am deeply interested,
sir, and unless you wish to withhold further
communication for the present, I would rather
listen now.'

`Then I will proceed; for in truth I am
desirous that you should know all, and at
this time; for I shall want you to act for
me, when you have done lending me your
ears.'

`If it is within my power to serve you,
sir, I will do it,' answered Griffitt, repeating
as before his willingness to assist him in any
way which would not involve his honor.

`You have asked me a moment or two
since, whether any recent events have recalled
my attention to my mother's painful history.
You shall hear. After her death, I
was left alone, a youth of seventeen, with a
small estate, though large and rich for a Scotch
lord, who you are aware are poor men compared
with the opulent southern nobles; but what
they lack in wealth, they make up in hones
ty and intelligence. I was alone, as I have
said, my mother being the last of the family,
save some half score of my remote relations,
whom I had never seen. After I had gotten
over the sharpness of grief which afflicted
me at the loss of my mother, I set myself
resolutely about carrying out the great idea
of my soul and thought, the vindication of
her honor. I was, as I have said, young,
ignorant of the world, and without a friend,
save the old steward of the estate, who had
served both my father and grandfather, a
faithful sensible man, who was greatly attached
to me. He knew my mother's story of
wrongs, and believed her innocent, if for no
other reason, because, as he said I was too
much like “my lord,” not to be his honest
son.

`I now made him my confidant, and told
him he must get me as much ready money
together, as he could, for I intended to leave
home, putting the patrimony in his charge,
and going up to London for the purpose of
asserting my claim to my father's name, title
and estates, which step I felt was the only
proper one for me to take in order to bring
to light my mother's innocence; for the test
of the legality of my claim would involve all
the testimony bearing upon her honor.'

`It was a just course, especially as you
knew your mother to be guiltless,' said Griffitt.
`Every thing was in your favor.'

`It seemed to be so; but one cannot fore-see

results. I reached London, and my first
act was to present myself before the Lord
Chancellor, informing him who I was, and
what my intentions were. He recieved me
at first with surprise, but afterwards became
more cordial; and asked me if I had certain
intelligence of Lord * * * * (my father's)
death. I replied that I had not, but
presumed that he was deceased.

“`This is not so certain, young man,” answered
his lordship. “Before you can take
any steps in this matter it is necessary for
you to establish first, proofs that Lord
* * * * is dead. Then you can, if
you see fit, present your claim, and if possible,
which I trust may be so, prove the integrity
and purity of your mother. But I
fear you will hardly be able to prove the latter
(you must pardon me,” he added, “but I
speak as a lawyer) if you do the former,
for public sentiment has pronounced her
guilty of the intrigue with the profligate
noble, whose son you are declared to be.
Still you resemble Lord * * * *,
strongly, and bear no likeness to the Earl of
* * * * * *, your reputed father.”

`I then,' proceeded Robert Burnside,
`I then explained to his lordship, how that
my mother believed herself to be the victim
of the base Earl's revenge. But the chancellor
shook his head and muttered something
about facts and my father's declared opinion
of her guilt.'

`Then you did not positively know, nor
had your mother known of the actual conspiracy
of the three women, in which they
engaged the base earl to take part, and be
their instrument?' asked Griffitt.

`Not then, nor till some years afterwards,
did I know all these facts; and then by the
confession of one of the women, the chief
traitoress.'

`On her death bed?'

`Yes. She confessed it, for she was a
Catholic, to a priest; who enclosed to me her
confession. But not of this now. I left the
presence of the chancellor not knowing
whether I should go, or what course to take.
A vague notion possessed my mind, that if I
could find the abode of the Earl of * *
* * * *, I might at the sword's
point bring him to a confession, which would
at once established my mother's purity and
my own claim to my father's rank and honors.
But I knew not where he was, or whether he
were alive, seventeen years having elapsed
since he was heard of.

`Then again I fancied that if I could find
my father, if he still lived, I could so convince
him of my mother's innocence, that
he would publicly acknowledge it by acknowledging
me as his son.

`But how should I proceed! What steps
should I take first. I was in a dilemma and
for two or three days could resolve upon
nothing. At length it occurred to me that
I would make inquiries at the palace after
the Earl of * * * * * *. I bent
my steps thither, and as I came in sight of
it, my heart throbbed as I thought of my
mother's and father's former abode there;
and how in it had transpired those painful
scenes which had produced so much unhappiness,
and which had rendered me a wanderer
with a name dishonored. It was some
moments before I summoned resolution
enough to my aid, to ask the captain of the
guard at the gate for permission to pass in.

“`Not without permission from the proper
authority,” he answered.

`I then asked him if he could tell me if
the Earl of * * * * * * were in
England.

“`I don't know such a nobleman,” he answered.

“`The Earl of * * * * * * did
you ask for young man?” demanded a gentleman
who was riding through the gate attended
by two servants in gorgeous liveries.
I replied in the affirmative, bowing with respect
to his grey hairs and noble appearance.
He regarded me an instant with a steady
look and then said,

“`That is a name and title that has not

been mentioned here for some years; but
once it was well known at court. The Earl
of * * * * * *, has been for some
years a resident abroad, I think in the south
of Italy; for he so largely involved his estates
by his extravagance in his court-day
that he will have to live and die out of England.”

“`Can you inform me, sir?” I asked of
him with agitation, “what town in Italy he
resides in?”

“`No; but it is easy to ascertain at Rome,
where a book is kept of all the foreigners
who dwell in Italy.” He then rode on, leaving
me greatly excited. Providence seemed
to smile upon my filial enterprise in the outset.'

`It was very surprising that your inquiry
should have been overheard and thus favorably
answered,' said Ringold.

`I took courage from the omen, and resolved
without delay to hasten to Italy. But
I determined I would make one effort more,
and that to ascertain if my father had been
heard from by any one; but after spending
two days making fruitless inquiries, not only
at the palace of every nobleman, but watching
every one I saw enter or go out, till I began
to attract the attention of every one, I
left London for Rome.

`But I will not dwell upon my wanderings.
Suffice it to say that not finding the Earl
* * * * * * in Italy, I resolved
to traverse Europe, visiting every town till
I found him, for in an European town an
Englishman is very easily found out. Weary
and long were my wanderings. I suffered
with sicknesses; I was captured by robbers;
I was twice imprisoned as a spy in
Austria; I was pressed into the Russian service;
I was made a prisoner by the Turk,
and for two years was a slave in Constantinople.
Effecting my escape by the aid of a
Greek, I lent them my service in their revolution,
and was severely wounded, whereby
I was an invalid for nearly a year. During
this time, I was nursed by the daughter of a
Greek general in whose house I lay, whose
aide I had been in battle, and whose life I
had twice saved. She was very beautiful,
her sympathy for the wounded stranger softened
into love, while also my gratitude grew
to love. When at length I recovered my
health, the maiden who had won my heart,
refused not my hand, and we were married.'

`Then you are married!' exclaimed Griffitt
with surprise, as he gazed upon the noble
features and manly form of the individual
who possessed such a varied and extraordinary
history.

`I was married, but death spares neither
the lovely nor the young,' answered Robert
Burnside, sadly. `After the revolution, and
the freedom of Greece, I felt that strong desire
towards my native land, that will possess
the wanderer's heart; and so I embarked for
England. I had been absent seven years
when I reached Scotland with my Greek
bride, and once more stood upon the thresh-old
of my maternal home. But the climate
of Scotland did not treat kindly the southern
flower, and after a year's abode in the cold
north, she departed to a happier world.'

`I sympathize deeply with you, sir,' said
Griffitt seeing his emotion.

`It is passed now. But she left me a
fair daughter, her mother's lovely image.
That sweet child bound me to my Scottish
home, or I should again have been a wanderer
seeking those with whom I felt my destinies
were linked.'

`You mean your father and the false Earl
of * * * * * *?'

`Yes. I had not forgotten them, though
my wife for the time rendered me comparatively
indifferent to the pursuit. But as my
fair young child grew up under my eye, and
I saw in her sweet countenance, the features
of my mother and my wife softly blent, I let
my heart go out to her with all its love and
affection. For her sake until her eighth
year I remained at home, forgetting the world
and all my cares; but at length as I watched
her beauty I was seized with the desire

to obtain for her what I scarcely longer cared
for myself, the lordly name and rank of her
grandfather and my father. This idea haunted
me day by day until at length I resolved to
visit London once more. I was then thirty
years of age and my father in that time had
not been seen nor certainly heard from; and
I knew that the law would pronounce him
dead. I left my child under the charge of a
faithful governess, and both under the protection
of the trusty steward who still lived.

`Upon reaching London, I went as before
to the palace of the lord chancellor. There
was a new incumbent in office, from whom
I learned that the law had pronounced Lord
* * * * dead and the estate without
an heir had been taken for the present in
charge by the court of chancery till its final
disposition was made.

`I then made myself known to his lordship,
and told him of my determination to
assert my rights in behalf of my daughter.
His lordship was surprised, and I placed in
his hands the manuscript history my mother
had bequeathed to me with all the correspondence
relative to the subject. Two days afterwards
I called and he said that he had
carefully perused the evidence and he fully
believed in my mother's innocence. Still,
he added, there is no proof, and you will
not be able to prove your legal title. I,
however, peremptorily told him I had decided
to advance my claim, and should at once
take the necessary legal steps.

`Three days afterwards, besides taking
suitable counsel, I caused to be published in
the Gazette, a proclamation, calling on all
persons to show cause, if any, why I (naming
myself as Lord * * * *'s son)
should not rightfully take the name and title,
and enter upon the estates of Lord * *
* *, to which I laid, claim as sole and
rightful heir.